Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - As Good As Rolling Stone Says They Are

22 June, 2010

I am usually skeptical towards bands I see in advertisements on music web sites. It seems a terrifically inorganic way of discovering new music. This reaction is worse for me if the hook the advertisers are using to push the group involves some sort of award or official recognition. Now there are some awards, like the Gershwin Prize for Popular Music award that was awarded to Paul McCartney, that make sense. But I don't expect anyone to suddenly begin listening to Sir Beatle because of it.

While rediscovering Pandora radio at work yesterday and seeing what the music genome project could do with The Most Serene Republic, I paused and noticed an ad for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, who apparently had been named Best New Band of 2010 by Rolling Stone Magazine. I usually tend to find my new music by trolling the better music blogs and wouldn't have paid Ms. Potter much attention had I not, later that day found a track of hers listed on Largehearted Boy, one of my favorite music blogs. This lent here just enough indie cred to make up for the Rolling Stone recognition and I decided to check her out.

The track on LHB was a live version of Heart of Glass by Blondie. Naturally I was intrigued, since I have a strong affinity for cover songs. It was alright. It wasn't good enough to seal the deal for me but the choice of songs and the light hint of drawl in Potter's voice intrigued me to continue searching further.

So I took to Youtube to track down some live footage. Choosing one at random I stumbled upon a 4 year old track from a Baltimore MD club. The track is called Treat Me Right and the first thing I noticed was that Grace Potter was playing a Hammond B3 organ. A huge fan of organists like Robert Walters, I was impressed. Potter's voice is strong and appropriately twangy, reminding me fondly of both Bobbie Gentry and June Carter...essentially any woman who used to sing with Johnny Cash. But the Nocturnals are a lot less rockabilly and a lot more rock. Bordering on the hipster urban country that is slowly creeping its way into vogue right now, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have a knack for arranging and have a lot of power onstage. I haven't checked out any of their studio recordings, but have been listening to live vids all day and highly recommend you do the same if you need a break.